Lon Morris's Jig - Scordatura?

Anybody ever taken a run at Lon Morris's Jig in the 1868 Buckley Book? (p.15)

I think he's telling me to retune the banjo to raised bass and with the fifth string tuned flat but then finger the notes it as if I haven't retuned it. There are low A notes that are lower than where the bass sting is tuned. My (more highly educated) fiddle playing friends call this "scordatura". It seems to be working, but I never totally trust my sketchy music reading.